TBH I like this analyze but there are some points where I miss something.... As you allready said, trilanes started to disappear while Jungling became a new "laning phase". WHY? You actually say low level heroes were raped too much, but it also means that there are 2 SOLO LANES. Two heroes that can rice, rice and rice and kill the whole enemy team. The only sacrifice were only 3 lower level heroes. With jungling they still had 2 solo lanes, 1 double lane and 1 jungler. So of course more high level heroes would pop out after early/mid.

Adding to that you talked about Venge/Lion/Maiden pick bans.... Those heroes are just "too strong". They are good for ealry games, their spells still do help mid game and even late game they can take out 1-2 heroes with their disables. I wonder if Icefrog will change there something. Same goes to Mirana, Brood, Spec etc. etc. . Anything might happen now changing the game in another direction with 6.55.

You also said, that there were those Lina/Leshrac etc. Picks. But back then DAGGAAAA was IMBAAAA making those heroes IMBAAAA.

And about this Asia/Europe playstyle thing. While watching Asia Replays I see heroes with nearly 200 cs at 30 mins in Asia, and 120 in Europe. In my opinion this shows a big difference in the "playstyles" which pretty much do exist.

lol

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Very lengthy, parts of it look interesting and I admit I only skimmed through it. Maybe you should considering shortening it somewhat :p

i read it all as compared to the previous 1 which seems to be too technical for me=(
temp tri-lanes seems to work, bt if used permanently it'll be counter-productive i guess..
imho ES/VS/Lion/CM etc can roam & make any lane into trilanes anytime & still doesn need to worry about being under-lvl :)

Agree with you about the 'playstyle' thing, i've seen tons of games with Kuro, Loda, Angel, Misery ... farming insanely >"< but the fanboys still flaming Asian "ricing style"

Strictly speaking, if you want to make a comparison with chess, you should not say that Dota has no difference in playstyles. Chess started off in the Romantic period, where attack and mobility were the be all and end all. Then came the rise of positional play by figures like Steinitz and Tarrasch, and this became so dogmatic that it produced the Hypermodern reaction. Finally, we have the modern synthesis of mobilty, positional concerns and respect for material. However, while this is theoretically true of the whole, individuals can still vary in playstyle.

For example, in Russia today, many enthusiastic amateurs still play the Romantic King's Gambit because they love that style of play. Others are devoted hypermodernists, or starch classical positionalists. While the very best of the best tend to have a universal style, they still have playstyle tendencies. All things being equal, Kasparov would more likely go for the dynamic continuation while Karpov would favour the quieter positional approach.

How does this relate to Dota? Well, there ARE regional differences in playstyle. These differences are more pronounced at lower levels, but even among top teams you can see them. And while the best of the best need to be able to play against any style and adopt any strategy, there will be some positions or gametypes that the team will favour.

If Dota lasts long enough, it will probably happen like in chess where the top teams are 'universal' while amatuers more clearly lean towards one style or another. But we're not at that point yet.